30 ArtLung posts from June, 2003

I feel good today. It’s an overcast day. And today one can officially use the term June Gloom to describe San Diego, because, hey, it’s now June!

A quiet morning.

Oh, have I mentioned my contention that most cookie-making companies are COMMUNISTS!

It’s time I ‘outed’ myself as a cranky cookie eater here on the blog. Here goes.

So I grew up with oatmeal cookies. Not just oatmeal cookies though – raisin, nut, and chocolate chip oatmeal, raisin, nut and oatmeal, chocolate chip and oatmean, etc. My Mom was progressive in allowing for many different variations on the fillings for oatmeal cookies.

So why, when one goes to purchase cookies, does one NEVER find oatmeal chocolate chip cookies? It seems that it is the fate of oatmeal cookies to be forever tied to RAISINS, and sometimes RAISINS AND NUTS in the grocery aisle or bakery case.

It’s unconscionable, I tell you. Oatmeal and chocolate chips goes great together. Absolutely delightful. Additionally, oatmeal cookies are providing that crucial texture that can make for a great cookie.

But I am no mere complainer, me. I have a solution.

Take this Betty Crocker Oatmeal Cookie Mix:

(which also requires one egg, and some water.

And add a handful of these Nestle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini-Morsels:

And you too can have what the cookie conglomerates are preventing you from having.

I’ll not be the pivot point for this discussion anymore. It’s simply not that interesting to me to choose sides or righteousness on the Middle Eastern conflict. It’s lots of innocents surrounded by opportunists, idiots, suicidal manipulators. And that’s both sides. That anyone sees a side worth supporting astonishes me.

Thanks for the interest. I’ll keep posting my own thoughts. But I’ll not post more comments from readers. There are no comments on this blog for a reason. It’s not a public forum for debate. There are far better fora for that. I’ll add that blogs which espouse a certain point of view are often less interesting than fora which instead try to find common ground among divergent opinions.

Lest you think I’m too much a politician, or that I shy away from strong opinion, here’s a rerun of a link to PhilG’s essay on Isreal.

Though recent events in the Middle East certainly are hopeful. Who would believe a commitment to a Palestinian state on the part of the Isreali leadership?

So yesterday I got a haircut. I went to my usual place – a one room, one barber joint that’s been there awhile.

I go to a barbershop I guess for the culture of it. It’s a typically male experience.

So when I get there there’s already a fellow in the chair. A man in his sixties or seventies. So I sit in one of the two “waiting” chairs. These themselves are barber chairs, though I’ve no idea when the last time someone used them that way. I peruse the reading material — what do we have? Maxim with Monica Belucci on the cover, last month’s Playboy, and a sportsfishing magazine whose title I don’t recall. There was a fourth, too — maybe a gambling magazine?

For a long while, I refused to come to go to this establishment. The main dude is a likable fellow, but occasionally, as older men are wont to do, particularly older white men, he spouts a joke or comment that’s just too off-color, or racial for my taste.

For about six months I refused to come to this guy because of one particularly egregious comment. I’ll not detail it here, but it made me a little sick.

Even sicker, I found myself at a loss as to how to react. I think I weakly said something like “well come on now man, that’s not true what you’re saying” … and then let it go. Had this been a friend or family member, I’d have pressed the issue. As it is, I voted with my feet and simply didn’t patronize the establishment for a long while.

I rationalized my lack of backbone by saying that I’d done what capitalism says I should do — punish poor vendors by not buying from them.

Another part of me thinks — why does it matter? — this is a man who is old, and part of a generation with archaic views. They will soon enough die, and those with (supposedly) more progressive views will be left.

And yet another part of me thinks of that line — “all it takes for there for there to be evil in the world is for good men to do nothing.”

Then again, do I really want to challenge the beliefs of someone who is holding very sharp implements next to my head? Is that the moment to say “I object to your archaic worldview” — how smart would that be, in a Machiavellian sense?

So I didn’t use him for several months.

But now that I lack a car, I can’t go to the shop I like in Clairemont, at least not easily. This leaves me with things close to work. And this barber is close to work.

What I want to type here is that there is a great lesson here, or that I made a bold move of some kind in defense of the melting pot, and I am a great champion of diversity. The truth is, I’m just a guy who gets his hair cut. There are worse things I guess.

Anyway, yesterday the thing that was most interesting was the music selection whilst I was in the chair, getting my hair cut. It was Edith Piaf. Singing her melancholy, beautiful French song to the older gentlemen in attendance. (Population: me, the barber, and another older fellow).

I found it incongruous and delightful simultaneously to be exposed to some Edith Piaf. I was delighted further that when one song ended, another began! The guy who was in the on-deck-circle inquired about it. Asking what tape it was. Turns out it was handcrafted by the barber. My quasi-racist throwback of a barber knows how to make a mix tape! I couldn’t help but be impressed.

For some reason I felt my trip was worthy for that reason alone.

Bonus: the haircut is pretty good. Short on the sides, slightly longer up top.

Postscript: I’m flirting with the notion of reviving my goatee. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Got some free tickets to see the San Diego Padres tonight with friend David and Leah. It was pretty cool, actually. Though San Diego lost. We left when the Tigers pulled ahead.

I’m tired and irritable. Too many irons in too many fires or something.

It’s important to remember when I feel like this to try and put things in perspective, to identify where the feelings come from, feel them, and get to the business at hand when I can. Life can be so tiring sometimes.

Working on updating my portfolio. Using the Gallery software to do it. I’ve worked on lots of stuff. Yesterday went wardriving with a friend. Very very cool. Next step? GPS unit. Then we lunched at D.Z. Akin’s. Awesome morning! Went looking at a place to live yesterday. Considering moving, possibly with multiple roommates. May be about to get a job offer from current gig. Not sure what terms I need here. Many questions. Saw Topsy Turvy with Leah the other night. She liked it. That movie is climbing up my list of favorites. Took back the car I was borrowing from my G’parents yesterday. It was great while it lasted. Back to public transportation for a while. Made some mix CDs for an old friend yesterday. It’s been about 7 years since I did that. I hope he’ll dig them. Lots of catching up to do there. I saw another classmate from my graduating high school class (Class of 1987) at Uni the other day. What’s it mean that all my high school classmates who I see downtown are lawyers? Granted it’s only 2 of them. But both lawyers? Isn’t that suspicious? What aren’t I a lawyer? I’m at a loss now. Time to shower and get to work.Onward

I often walk around, semi-randomly downtown. I traipse and amble and mosey. Sometimes I take pictures. Here’s one. You can see the building I work in in this one. I like working downtown. It looks like I may be working there a bit more permanently. I’m pleased with that, and I’m generally happy in my life now. Things are chaotic. But things are encouragingly hopeful. I’m a happy person. Considering where my head was at a year ago, I’ve come a long way.

So many things done in the past 2 weeks that have been good, some that have been bad. But I’m doing well. And I’ve not blogged about them, really. I’m not sure whether that’s discretion or sloth or what. But it’s certainly interesting to see that my online time seems to be drawn to other online projects lately.

I saw this with Leah, Masked and Anonymous — and I’ll say it was absolutely the best movie starring Bob Dylan as a radical underground dispossessed folk/rock star in a futuristic semi-thirdworld dystopia starring Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman, Jessica Lange Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Giovanni Ribisi, Mickey Rourke and others. But I’ll also say it’s absolutely the worst in that genre as well. Leah and I got in free though, if that helps. We considered leaving about 2/3rds of the way through, but then, well, we were wondering how much worse it would get. Then Mickey Roarke became president and Bob Dylan broke a whiskey bottle and threatened another characters life. Then we knew precisely how bad it would get.

iChat AV rocks hard. Talked to my very own sister tonite from thousands of miles away. Super-freaking-awesome! Of course, I don’t have a microphone, but her genius boyfriend said I could use a pair of headphones as a Mic. I did. It worked. And we all talked!

Currently you can only talk one on one, don’t know if that will change.

There were some technical glitches talking to her laptop, but to her boyfriend it was smooth as silk (despite talking into headphones).

I really love my sister. Lucky to have her. And my Parents, who recently celebrated their 35th Anniversary.

But my pop hiatus was less the result of a serious minded young writer’s quest for depth and more simply a complete misunderstanding of how the game worked. I learned that the musical limitations placed on what we call pop are precisely the point of the music. That is why when geeks start talking about their favorite new songwriter who “stretches the genre” i start reaching for that manure filled sock that Woody talked about – then earplugs.

I known and observed writers who’ve tortured themselves trying to be original, using weird personal tunings, a special combination of guitar effects, writing lyrics that don’t rhyme, songs with choruses that only happen once (if at all) and (the worst offenders) those that infuse their pop with virtuosity in an effort to raise it above the “common.” Its all very boring and serves little more purpose than allowing geeks to pat themselves on the back for being clever enough to connect the pointless dots. These folks think they are raising the genre but actually they are lowering the rim and pretending they can slam dunk.

The game is you (and everyone else) are dealt a certain amount of flowers. The trick is to arrange those flowers – those same f*cking flowers that everyone else has been dealt from Robert Johnson to Avril Lavigne – and come up with something that transcends the limitations. I used to feel hemmed in by the restrictions. Now i see that rules is rules. It’s more fun than coal mining and less complicated than bridge so why complain?

I love that. Let the limitations guide what you do. If everything is possible, then nothing is interesting. I think that’s another quote.

Blogger has upgraded their backend software for free blogs. It’s much faster, and so far, much more stable. I’m quite glad I’ve stuck with Blogger. I think using a tool made by Google is part of it. But more, I think Blogger is a company that’s doing the right stuff.

you make me shiver i feel so tender we make a pretty good team don’t get exhausted i’ll do some driving you oughta get you some sleep get your instructions follow directions, then you should change your address maybe tomorrow maybe the next day, whatever you think is best burned all my notebooks what good are notebooks? they won’t help me survive my chest is aching burns like a furnace, the burning keeps me alive try to stay healthy physical fitness, don’t want to catch no disease try to be careful don’t take no chances you better watch what you say

Well, not new. Actually it’s from last August. Doing some spring cleaning right now. Leah is on a road trip to see family with her kids. A long drive that’s not through. And I’m waiting for the “I got in fine” phone call.

Savoir-Faire makes this great, small notebook that’s very small, about the size of a wallet or a box of cigarettes. I had bought one very early last year.

I never really used it until Jennifer left, and I had need to keep phone numbers and random information as things were changing rapidly for me. It’s been super-handy, and I’m on my 3rd one now. I have a fourth ready to go when I use this one up. I find it nice to be able to keep ephemera, books I want to check out, movie ideas, “to-do” lists and such in it.

I sometimes joke that it’s “my palmpilot” because I use it in a very PIM way. I like that I don’t need batteries for it, and it fits in my pocket nicely.

Why am I posting this? Mostly because I want to be able to remember where I got this if I want another one some day. There aren’t many notebooks with the right size and quality out there. And cheap too. Only 4 bucks and it has held up well to being sat on by me — so that tells you they’re good!

It’s a beautiful day. I started it with racquetball. Now doing some cleaning. This afternoon I’m going to be looking at rentals. Time to move. Time to see what the next living space will be.

This is me, last May, visiting my buddy Vince in Virginia. Impromptu he asked me to do a mural of a plane on his son’s wall (to accompany the existing clouds). I demurred at first. But in the end I was able to improvise something good. Note the chin. This picture is approximately 70 pounds ago.